Run-and-shoot concepts, not run-and-shoot offense

There’s been enough talk of the Titans and the run-and-shoot offense this offseason that it’s probably worth clarifying the difference between using the actual run-and-shoot offense and using run-and-shoot concepts.

For starters, the Titans will not look like the early 1990s version of the Houston Oilers, a team that featured quarterback Warren Moon throwing for gobs of yardage in a four wide-receiver system that included the likes of Haywood Jeffires, Ernest Givins, Curtis Duncan and Webster Slaughter. Those teams had little use for a tight end or a fullback, and Lorenzo White was often the only player besides the quarterback in the backfield.

The Titans wouldn’t have re-signed blocking tight end Craig Stevens to a four-year deal during the offseason, nor would they closely be monitoring a fullback battle between Quinn Johnson and Collin Mooney, if they were planning to abandon all traditional running-offense concepts.

“We are not running (the old run-and-shoot offense),” Titans coach Mike Munchak said. “We have a tight end and a fullback.

“The (run-and-shoot) concepts are good. We do a lot of great things with passing concepts. We have a lot of receivers that put up good numbers but you cannot compare the two (offenses) because we are not doing the same things. We are doing the same passing concepts, but I have different personnel groupings. We are getting the best of both worlds.”

In other words, Titans fans can expect to see some remnants of the old run-and-shoot from time to time – such as the four- and maybe even five-receiver sets (which will also incorporate pass-catching tight ends Jared Cook and Taylor Thompson), as well as the need for the quarterback to make quick decisions and quick throws.

“It is always going to be a part of the game plan,” Munchak said. “(But) … it has changed and it is used different ways. It’s not run-and-shoot anymore.

“It is a lot of choice routes, a lot of decisions to make, a lot of reading coverages on the move and some other things … I think there is a little more this year than last year because the guys are more familiar with what we are doing.”

Titans offensive coordinator Chris Palmer, who was the Oilers’ wide receivers coach from 1990-92, also differentiates what the Titans will run this year from what the Oilers ran two decades ago. But he says he still sees run-and-shoot concepts alive all over the league, which shouldn’t be a surprise, given that Moon threw for more than 4,600 yards in both 1991 and 1992.

“We’re more of a dropback (offense), while the run-and-shoot was more of a semi-roll or a break-contain type of roll,” Palmer said. “But I think the league has adopted a lot of the four wides that were introduced in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s.

“People have had success with it and they’ve taken it to more of a drop-back scheme. The concepts are good and they’ll continue to hold up.”